You Can Make Homemade Hard Apple Cider!

Welcome to the How to Make Hard Cider website! This site was created to help you with your first adventures in hard cider making, even if you have never brewed any wine or beer before.

How this website works

This site covers the very basics of cider making. We will be making 7-8 16oz bottles of hard cider from one gallon of cider. Of course, this recipe is expandable, but if you are a first-time brewer I strongly recommend starting small so that you can make smaller inexpensive mistakes, and not ruin $50 worth of cider by doing something silly (note the voice of experience here)!

This site will give you what you need to start brewing, and also provide you with enough knowledge that you can experiment until you achieve some pretty tasty hard cider! There’s a minimum of equipment I recommend–around $10-$20 total (if you get your glass jugs at the recycling center) and most of this equipment you can reuse for years. Yes, you can make simple “hard cider” with bread yeast, a plastic jug and a balloon on top. If you want help with these crude methods, look for another website, and don’t invite me over for a taste. Blech.

This website is not intended to be the ultimate word in hard cider. Brewing can be a complex trip down the paths of chemistry, pH, specific gravity, temperature regulation, and microbe management. If you are wanting more about pressing your own apples or large-scale production–well, that is beyond the scope of this website, please check out the links section for some helpful resources for your grander pursuits!

This site has the following sections. You will have the most success if you read them all before you begin:

Links and Credits – A section of equipment resellers and other useful cider making links, also a works cited list.

First of all, what is cider? In the USA and also in Canada, ‘cider’ is used to describe a cloudy but unfermented (non-alcoholic) apple juice, often from an orchard stand or farmer’s market. The term ‘hard cider’ is used to denote that this cider has been fermented, and now contains alcohol. To differentiate between hard cider and cider, sometimes you will see the terms “sweet cider” used. In most of the rest of the world, including the UK and Europe, just saying plain ‘cider’ means alcoholic hard cider. Just remember, after you add the yeast, it is no longer sweet cider, so I might just call it “cider” by that stage in the process out of habit.

Is making my own hard cider legal?

YES! In the U.S., as long as you don’t sell it, every adult in your home may brew up to 100 gallons of wine, beer or cider per year. More than that, and you need a liquor license… and likely a 12-Step Program.

Here is what you will need to make hard cider

Here is an equipment list for one gallon of hard cider (each item will be described in detail later in the site):

TWO GLASS 1-gallon jugs. (if you buy cider (juice) in plastic, you will need to move it into glass to ferment. If your juice came in a glass jug, this counts as one of your jugs, but you will need another jug too.) 1 Gallon glass Jug ($9 ships free from Amazon.com)

Curious about the Amazon links all over this site?

Because of my remote location, I have been buying my brew supplies online for close to 15 years. If you can’t walk into a local brew store, Amazon is simply the best place to buy a wide selection of brew gear (most of the major vendors are now selling there), and they often offer free shipping. I extensively researched the prices on all of these products to get you the best deals, because hey, if you are making your own brew, you want to brag about how affordable it is, right? Buying on Amazon gets you the same products for less money. For situations where a more affordable option is available, you will find links directly to that vendor.

Don’t have an Amazon Prime membership? No problem. Any order over $25 will get these products shipped for free. If you are a college student, Amazon also offers you a FREE Prime membership as long as you have student status. Go you!

Also, this site is connected with Amazon affiliates, so when you click on one of the links, we get a small kickback from Amazon at absolutely no charge to you. If you’d like to say “thanks” for what you learned on this site, you can click into Amazon from one of these links and any purchase you make will help support this site. Some folks have let me know they are bookmarking a link and using it whenever they shop on Amazon! Zowie! I so appreciate your kindness and support in keeping this site growing 🙂